Placemaking Network: Place at the Center of Mixed Use, Transit-Oriented Development

Alan Ward of Sasaki Associates will present two of the firm’s major redevelopment projects, both adjacent to Washington DC metro stops and both planned around central public spaces. The Avenue, formerly referred to as Square 54, is an 800,000 sf mixed-use development bordered by Washington Circle, 23rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s just six blocks northwest of the White House and is also near George Washington University. The four building complex includes office, residential, and retail; addressing a complex and varied public realm at the intersection of the Washington DC street grid, diagonal avenues, and transit. Its green spaces, streetscapes, terraces, and courtyards are designed to create place and link to transit. The Blairs, in Silver Spring, Maryland was initially conceived and built in the 1950s and ’60s. The redevelopment plan creates a new mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhood that connects to the regional park system and downtown Silver Spring with 2,800 apartments and 450,000 square feet of new mixed-use commercial space, all within a five-minute walk of the nearby Metro station. Designed to offer a more urban and walkable lifestyle for the area’s growing population, its open spaces are complex and varied, bringing the feel, scale, and overlap of uses that is more akin to an organically evolved city.

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To learn more about the Placemaking Network, visit architects.org/committees/placemaking-network.